Friday, September 17, 2010

Wooster is becoming a new tornado alley, we were hit by a F2 on Thurday night, the funnel cloud passing less than a mile from the house. The storm hit the Ohio State Campus and Research center hard. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured.

Regardless, we're without power/internet/etc... for a bit. Be back up after the weekend.

The big baddy...

Half the building vanished into rubble...

Misc debris...

That roof obviously did not stop at the road sign as appropriate...

Good news is that I got all the steel bars powdered in gloss black, should be going out first of next week; after all, that's what's really important :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Feeling a bit better today, still have a cough like an emphasema patient, but the nose has slowed down.

Worked on steel bars today, trying to push out the last 20 before I fire up the powder coat. With a change in material from Ti to steel, I have to swap out a bit of equipment on the water cooled torch, so I thought I'd share a bit.

As I've mentioned previously, Ti welding must take place in an oxygen free environment to avoid embrittlement caused by oxygen contamination at temps above 800 degrees. To accomplish this, I purge the interior of the tube with argon and use an extra large diffusion cup to create a "shower" of gas in the area of the liquid weld puddle.

Below, the equipment for Ti is on top...you can see the greater diameter of the cup and the diffusion screen to insure consistent gas coverage. The next size down is a diffusion set up for steel, using a smaller coned cup and diffusion screen built into the collet body. The smallest and non-screened set up is a standard cup/collet body/collet for steel work.

With the equipment changed out for the steel diffusion set up, lets start tacking some bars together...

Tacking in the inside corners, I got my moneys worth out of this piece of filler rod...

And all welded up and ready to head toward the blast cabinet for paint prep...

Been wracked with a fall dose of the cold/respiratory bug. I worked through it Friday through Sunday but Monday morning when I was off duty from the FD I was wasted. Spent all day Monday sleeping, coughing, spitting up green globs of icky stuff, and generally feeling like a turd.

With a day wasted, there was no way I could afford another day to wallow in my misery, so I got off to the shop Tuesday morning for better or worse. Ti bars were on the menu, and I had some hungry/eager customers to serve up.

A 28" grip on the rotaing spit, getting it's end cap welded in place...

Cooling before moving on to have the finsih detailed...

Working when sick was equal parts comedy and frustration...my nose kept dripping into my helmet every time I flipped it down to weld, eventually building up and running out the bottom and onto the weld table. I felt like I was bathing in a pool of germs, quite ironic when the Ti environment has to be so meticuously clean. The funniest occurrance was when I could feel a sneeze sneaking up: you know, that familiar tingling sensation and pressure build up. I was in the middle of a bead and could feel it coming...I tried to stave it off for just a few more seconds until I could finish the run, but alas, there was no sticking you finger in this dam. Suddenly, the sneeze ripped through me, sending my body into a convulsive reaction, blue arc lighting up the room from torch through space back to the bar, my helmet knocked askew and my glasses bent. I had a mucous web spread from my lip to my helmet. It was one heck of a mess...would have loved to see that one on camera ;) For what it's worth, all bars were decontaminated with alcohol before wrapping :)

Working on office stuff this morning, painting this afternoon, and then gearing up for Sue's road bike for the first of next week.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I knew it had been a while since I last updated the ol' blogeroo, but it wasn't until the guys at the fire department offered their condolenses in the death of my computer guru that I realized just how long it had been. Sorry folks, when things get crazy busy, the blog is the first to suffer.

Anyhoo, lots has transpired since we last sat down to chat.

My poor laptop suffered a McAfee security snafu that took a week to resolve, and the desktop server needed some attention to maintain my PCI compliance. I'm amazed that devices that are suppose to make our lives easier can suck so much love out of life. Thanks to Super James for the consult and house call to make everything cheery again.

zzzzaaap...the last seat stay is mitered...

I finished up Chad's Ti frame in fabrication and it is being annodized before heading back to me and into the paint booth. If all works as planned, it will be a mix of polished Ti, anno'd Ti, and liquid paint to create a truly unique tribute to Chad's favorite Texas institute of education.

I prepped a set of Hot Rods for a little aqua fade paint to match Jared's frame and fork; I'll be spraying it up next week with Don's Yo frame...

The shop construction is coming along...three tough days saw 30 ton of gravel shoveled and wheelbarrowed into the building and two days of pouring concrete. The gravel left me feeling like an old, out of shape, broken man (ughh...wait a minute, I am) but thankfully, the concrete went really smooth. The steel roofing is on, all the windows and man doors installed, and I'm gearing up to start the wiring while I wait for the concrete board siding to arrive.

Here is the early morning update pic of the shop...

and the view from the shop at sunset...

I can't wait to begin moving in around the November target date. Working downtown all these years has begun to take it's toll; if one more homeless dude walks in the shop asking for a smoke I think I'll light them up with the oxy kit. Seriously.

On the race promotion front, we had the biggest event of the summer last weekend; the Big Valley Race at Camp Manatoc in Peninsula. The 331 crew really went above and beyond getting ready for this event; prepping trail we only get access to once a year, setting up for the Saturday festival with demos from Specialized, Jamis, and Mountain Road Cycles, working with Xterra and Lake Effect to put on a half marathon trail run and cross races, multiple kid's races, milk crate stacking competitions, and cross country races for over 200 participants from 5 states...whew!

I had the pleasure of manning the crate stacking for almost 6 hours on Saturday...here Kalten is demonstrating the process of stacking a crate, climbing up, teetering carefully, then repeating the process. Yep, that's 16 crates he's rocking right now.

The Groovy guys did very well over the weekend, starting with Steve on Saturday. Lining up for the pro/expert cross race on his Bigwheel 29er next to Jamis Pro Blake, who flew in to compete for the weekend, I worried that the hardcore crossers would eat up the course. It was not to be, as Steve rode away from everyone with a smile and nary a whisp of pain on his face. Erin and the kids had a front row seat in cheering on Dad and he was fueled by their enthusiasm, ending the day with a big "W".

Sunday morning Kalten, Jeff, Cary, and Steve rolled up to the start line for the cross country race. The course is a killer...it is not very technical, but rolls smoothly and drives you to push at your upper limit. With nearly 28 miles of racing, the course is merciless for those that start too hard. Steve and Jeff pummeled each other at the front of the pro/expert under 35 field, with each suffering from cramps and tightness by the end of the second lap. Ultimately, Jeff's fresh legs prevailed, with Steve taking second. I'm proud of both of them; Jeff for finishing a race with all of his blood still in his body, and Steve for hunkering down and performing so well over two days of hard effort. Cary, in the slightly older than 35 but still not in need of Depends category, engaged in a battle royal with John Lorson from Soupcan racing, with John taking him on the final climb to the finish. Cary cruised through in style with a second for his effort, a marked improvement from his placing last year, witness to the work he's put in this year.

Race day morning...sunrise on the road to Manatoc

Kalten had a bitter sweet day; forced to get up and travel to Manatoc at 0530 am with me, he was low on sleep, low on fuel (I forgot to bring him food as I was focused on what I needed to take for the race, oops) and had some issues with his chain on the trail. Trying to make up time from the mechanical, he crashed hard on a downhill. Fully frustrated, he figured the race was over for him. When he rolled up on Julie Sroka, who was also having chain issues, he decided to stop and help out. Riding out the rest of the course at a leisurely pace, he suddenly found himself passing one rider in his age group, then another..."crap, I'm still in this race!" Picking the pace back up, he ended up crossing the line in 3rd. Lesson learned...always keep racing, you never know what is happening in front of you.

Labor day, I took a day off from the Fire Department and the shop. It wasn't all my idea...5 months have elasped since we moved into the new digs, and Christi is done waiting for me to build out the closets, hang towel bars, vanities, etc... Honestly, I have not had much of a problem just working my way through the pile of clothes on the floor, but Christi desired something a bit more organized. I could either give her a day to get this stuff done or I could choose to sleep in the shop for the rest of the year. Hmmmm, gotta admit, my bed at home is a lot more comfortable. So I took Monday and attended to half of the "honey do's"...

Christi's new closet I built up...

Finally, I ran over to Canton to attend a wedding for some close friends daughter who I first met on a ride when she was running around in diapers. While in town, I snapped a pic of this awesome 1920's era piece of iron...

Anybody care to hazard a guess as to what it is used for?

Whew...that's enough for now. Working with Tony on the final details for his 650b single speed build and for Sue's road bike.

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About Me

Hey folks, thanks for stopping by. So...what to tell you about Groovy Cycleworks?
Groovy Cycleworks was born back in the heyday of mountain biking, the early 90's, when bright colors, lycra, and cnc parts ruled the roost.
Learning from one of the true engineering masters of cycling, I acquired a love for clean lines, strong designs, and functional elegance.
I've been doing the "custom" thing since 1994; road, mountain, tandem and a full spectrum of forks, stems, etc...
Drop me a line and we'll see if we can build the bike of your dreams.
cheers,
rody